In the wake of the self-devouring carnival of cannibals, the most disastrous Conservative conference anyone can remember, parliament will reconvene this week. Then the dark fun and gory games will really begin.
On paper, Liz Truss commands a hefty Commons majority of 71. In practice, she is a prime minister with a majority of less than zero. We have what is effectively a hung parliament in which the Truss faction is not even the largest party. The good news is that she simply does not have the numbers to implement her crazier notions. The bad news is that we will endure a period of numerous emergencies with a dysfunctional government struggling to do much at all.
She and her chancellor did not abandon their attempt to abolish the top rate of tax because there was some kind of “coup”, the ridiculous assertion of Suella Braverman. They were forced into that tyre-smoking U-turn because giving more to those who already have much in the middle of a cost of living crisis was hated by the public and was not going to get through parliament.
That reverse soothed financial markets a little and headed off a revolt by Tory MPs, but it has also made the position of the prime minister and her chancellor even feebler. … » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, October 9, 2022
